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Yes, I have been to the High Arctic


Zephyr

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29 minutes ago, Zephyr said:

And yes...., I even dove at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean......

But it wasn't me.  Honest.

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So you were diving for dead bodies in the arctic too?  So that means you, Wilbur and I have been to Arctic.  I hope people here, understand it's rare for most Canadians to even been in the Canadian Arctic, if they've never lived there.  

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6 hours ago, Wilbur said:

I have been deeper than Zephyr in the Arctic.  :)  Guess how!

I was at the bottom of Polaris mine on Little Cornwallis Island.  It was 5km from shoreline and 1500 feet below the floor of the Arctic Ocean.   Everything about it was astounding.  The camp was like a space station.    I did take some RCMP divers up to search under the ice for a group of recreational divers.  They found the bodies after about 5 days. 

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12 minutes ago, Digital_photog said:

I've been to Hudson Bay.  Is that the arctic?

Not quite...just missed it.    Map below is from federal government..what they consider the northern circumpolar region.  But if you saw polar bears, we'll be impressed.  I didn't see polar bears in Nunavut, but some locals were travelling by skidoo in middle of town.

image.png.086067a1dbd632f2baae746fe5580865.png

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Husky dogs that I saw tethered on edge of Iqualuit..Nuvanut's capial city. It was around 3:00 pm.  Real working husky sled dogs are kept outside ...

besthuskies.jpg

3 official languages in some of the Canadian territories.:  Inutikuit, English and French.  This scene below is an incredibly CAnadian scene.  All Canadian instituitions, this national bank and the Canadian Post Office.

iqaluitbank.jpg

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The farthest north I have been is  65°59′50″N, which technically just misses being considered in the arctic by a whisker. To get there, I had to drive a loaded vehicle over frozen lakes, some of which are quite deep, and if I had explored those depths, I'm quite sure I would not be here telling you about it.

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4 hours ago, shootingstar said:

Not quite...just missed it.    Map below is from federal government..what they consider the northern circumpolar region.  But if you saw polar bears, we'll be impressed.  I didn't see polar bears in Nunavut, but some locals were travelling by skidoo in middle of town.

image.png.086067a1dbd632f2baae746fe5580865.png

Looks like that circle includes Hudson Bay (most of it) and most of Alaska.  Is Anchorage really considered the "Arctic"?  Or is there quite a bit of distance between Polar and Arctic? It seems there is.

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4 hours ago, shootingstar said:

This is the only road to tiny hamlet, Apex. About  15 km. outside Iqualiut  (which is on Baffin Island).  You don't want to ever get lost in a windstorm even if it doesn't seem far:

apexiqaluit-2003.jpg

What do people do for a living there?  Do you know if there are any opening for Computer Programmers with skills in Automotive Bill of Material management? 

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5 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Looks like that circle includes Hudson Bay (most of it) and most of Alaska.  Is Anchorage really considered the "Arctic"?  Or is there quite a bit of distance between Polar and Arctic? It seems there is.

This is the current Arctic Circle and Arctic Region.  Anchorage is nowhere near being included.  Barrow and Prudhoe Bay are though.  

800px-Arctic_circle.svg.png

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The polar region is considered anywhere north of the Arcric Circle(66.33N) but most up that way refer to that simply as High Arctic.

Anchorage is 5 degrees south of that line (61) so around 350ish miles south of the Arctic circle.  At 61 degrees North, it is considered to be in the Arctic and considered 'North' to everyone but people from up there

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4 minutes ago, Mr. Silly said:

What do people do for a living there?  Do you know if there are any opening for Computer Programmers with skills in Automotive Bill of Material management? 

There are openings for weather prognosticators.  You are qualified enough.  :)  You have wiki, right? 

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13 hours ago, shootingstar said:

So you were diving for dead bodies in the arctic too?  So that means you, Wilbur and I have been to Arctic.  I hope people here, understand it's rare for most Canadians to even been in the Canadian Arctic, if they've never lived there.  

No, no, no.  The whole country is an arctic mess.  Canada = Arctic. 

You can't fool us.

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8 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

This is the current Arctic Circle and Arctic Region.  Anchorage is nowhere near being included.  Barrow and Prudhoe Bay are though.  

Thx

7 minutes ago, Zephyr said:

The polar region is considered anywhere north of the Arcric Circle(66.33N) but most up that way refer to that simply as High Arctic.

Yeah. I've been to Anchorage and it was not "Arctic" or really my idea of what polar would be.  It's just the map SS used calls it "north circumpolar" and that seemed like maybe the "Arctic" (which I would take too be above the arctic circle line) might be different from what's considered "polar" (relatively nears the North Pole) and  different again from this "circumpolar" region which seems much larger.

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8 hours ago, Wilbur said:

I was at the bottom of Polaris mine on Little Cornwallis Island.  It was 5km from shoreline and 1500 feet below the floor of the Arctic Ocean.   Everything about it was astounding.  The camp was like a space station.    I did take some RCMP divers up to search under the ice for a group of recreational divers.  They found the bodies after about 5 days. 

I am curious... what was the temperature like down there.  At normal latitudes, once you get to a certain point, the temperatures tend to stabilize somewhere in the 40's.  Is that the case when you're way up in the arctic? 

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25 minutes ago, Mr. Silly said:

I am curious... what was the temperature like down there.  At normal latitudes, once you get to a certain point, the temperatures tend to stabilize somewhere in the 40's.  Is that the case when you're way up in the arctic? 

Yes and at the top of the mine they had massive air conditioners to keep the underground permafrost frozen.  

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5 hours ago, Mr. Silly said:

I am curious... what was the temperature like down there.  At normal latitudes, once you get to a certain point, the temperatures tend to stabilize somewhere in the 40's.  Is that the case when you're way up in the arctic? 

I'm pretty certain in the city where I am our -35 degree C. to _40 degree C. winter days, about several times per year, is the same as up in the Arctic.  It's not surprising there's enough people who go up in the North to work for several years.    

Since moving here, I've met more people who lived and worked in the North, shade south of the Arctic,,,in Yukon and Northwest Territories.

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1 hour ago, shootingstar said:

I'm pretty certain in the city where I am our -35 degree C. to _40 degree C. winter days, about several times per year, is the same as up in the Arctic.  It's not surprising there's enough people who go up in the North to work for several years.    

Since moving here, I've met more people who lived and worked in the North, shade south of the Arctic,,,in Yukon and Northwest Territories.

Yeah, I've experienced temperatures as cold in Saskatoon as I ever did hundreds of kms north of Yellowknife, but the cold is more consistent farther north. Saskatoon can be -40 one day and 0 the next.

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8 hours ago, Zephyr said:

My first extended trip the temps ranged from -58 to as warm as -40, for 20 days.  Plus bitter windchill  on top of that.  The second trip was -45 to as warm as -25..., sleeping in tents and unheated latrines were a neat experience

The winter I worked in the north (February and March 2007) the temperatures were pretty consistent in the -30 to -40 range. I think I saw -47 once on the thermometer at the mine in Nunavut, but that was the coldest I saw.

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Here I wrote to illustrate more to an international audience about living and travelling in CAnada:  https://cyclewriteblog.wordpress.com/2014/07/02/looking-into-canadas-soul-part-i-freaking-out-over-vast-time-distance-and-climatic-toughness/

with photos...some seasonal photos..  it's too easy to take for granted the breadth of CAnada's geography.

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